Tea with Eleanor Roosevelt, Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada

Unusual Oval Window with Gorgeous View - Hubbard House

A short ¼ mile bridge across the Passamaquoddy Narrows from Lubec is Campobello Island, New  Brunswick, Canada.  This beautiful island was for many years the summer playground of very wealthy families who built enormous summer “cottages” there.  One of these families was the Roosevelts, who brought their son Franklin every summer from when he was 1 year old.  They would stay for 2 ½ months each summer; sailing, hiking, picnicking, playing golf and tennis, and enjoying this beautiful wild setting.

Several years after Franklin and Eleanor were married, his mother gave them the “cottage” next door to her own.  They returned there every summer until FDR was President and demands of his job prevented him from coming as often.  Eleanor and their children continue to summer there without him.  Franklin became ill with the polio virus that was to paralyze his legs while he was on the island.

The Franklin Cottage is open to the public as part of the FDR International Park, the only park in the world funded and governed by two governments – the US and Canada.  The 34 room cottage itself is airy and simply furnished.  It is comfortable, and, though enormous, unpretentious.  There are expansive windows overlooking the scenic shoreline.  It would be a beautiful place to grow up.

Also included in the Park is the neighboring Hubbard House where twice each day, you can have tea and fresh ginger cookies while two ladies tell you stories about Eleanor Roosevelt.  They speak about her compassion for people and how she traveled all over the country, and relayed what she saw back to her husband the President.  She went on after his death to serve as the US Ambassador to the UN.  It is an inspiring afternoon.